Early on, I tended to give Rick Scott some benefit of the doubt, assuming that a former CEO knew what he was doing, even if not many people cared for the way he was doing it.

And then I watched him on education, an issue I closely follow.

Florida has the best education commissioner in the United States in Eric Smith. He is a darling of the reform movement because he has made it work here despite incredible obstacles in the form of funding and Charlie Crist’s waffling.

A man who proclaimed himself as a champion of school reform, one of Scott’s first appointments should have been with Smith to discuss where we go from here. Instead, Scott never so much as called to say how-dee-do. He went off on a press escapade with Michelle Rhee, a former chancellor in Washington DC. A genius at self-promotion, Rhee isn’t in Smith’s league when it comes to actually producing results in the classroom, year after year after year.

This was a huge heads-up that Scott was more interested in the glitter of promoting reform than in the nitty-gritty of accomplishing reform. It also was an indication that he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He proved it shortly thereafter by giving Smith the boot without so much as ever talking to him.

You tell me what CEO operates like this? What CEO would come into a new corporation and fire the best talent in the place without so much as an interview? I took this as an indication that nothing he did could be trusted.

And now Florida, the Mecca of education reform, can’t attract any talent to replace Smith. Under normal circumstances, the best people in the country would be lined up at the door. They are not because they understand everything I’ve written above about Smith’s accomplishments and how he was treated by Rick Scott. If being hugely successful at your job doesn’t count for anything with Rick Scott, then what does? Is this what he did at his hospital chain, went around firing his best administrators?

This is the thing about an education bureaucracy the size of Florida’s. It’s not enough just to make pronouncements about choice and charters and testing and accountability. It’s not enough to pal around with Michelle Rhee in front of the TV cameras. The nitty-gritty detail of how you enact these reforms is what determines whether they are successful. And that is where Smith excelled.

Scott will not find a commissioner of Smith’s stature or Smith’s capabilities. Scott has caused great harm to Florida schools. He has tarnished our image as the top reform state in the nation. He is a self-promotional clown who has no idea what he is doing when it comes to running a school system. It’s probably too late now, but if he had and inkling of what it means to be a public servant, he would swallow his ego, admit his mistake and ask Smith to stay on.

That is, of course, if Florida’s school children were a priority with him.

Comments

The people didn’t elect Governor Scott to serve the education bureaucracy. He was elected to create jobs. Fortunately, he also cares enough about education to shred those parts of the bureaucracy that add no value to kids’ education. The key difference between Governor Scott’s approach to education and the liberal establishment approach is… kids. Kids. Kids. Kids. To Governor Scott, every dollar spend on education should be used to educate kids, and educate them well. The liberal approach to education is to support “schools,” “teachers unions,” “school construction,” “condoms,” “abortion counseling,” “lawyers to keep God out of the classroom” and assorted wasteful nonsense. This governor has the right ideas. The only sad thing is that the State hasn’t had the benefit of his outstanding ability until just this year when he took office. He just signed a bill that will increase electronic education options for kids. That means kids will actually learn something even if they have a crummy teacher. Thank God, Governor Scott is not accepting “business as usual” in the State’s $20 billion education empire. Keep up the good work, Governor Scott!

Does it matter to you that you don’t know what you’re talking about?
That you have no idea who Eric Smith is, what Scott is doing and that Florida abandoned the “liberal” approach to schools 13 years ago?
And that schools don’t give out condoms or abortion counseling.
So you really just live in La-la land and consult your burning bush when it’s time to comment on something?

Read the post, dumbass. They’re trying to re-fill the position, not eliminate it. So Scott wasn’t cutting the bureaucracy, just adding to its headaches.

You complain about the state spending money on schools. Typical right-wing “let’s just keep things as they once were, because progress doesn’t happen.” What do you propose we do with the growing population? Pack them into classrooms on top of each other?

And speaking of being on top of each other, you must actually believe kids listen to their parent’s and teachers when they tell them to not have sex before they’re married. Clearly that’s working. These stupid kids have to be given some way of not ruining their lives. And who knows, one day they might turn into someone even you would vote for.

It’s time people like you stopped living in your romanticized view of the way things used to be. Things were great back in the 50’s and 60’s, right? No racial issues, no murder, no teenage pregnancies… life was just one big day in at the soda shop. Right. Welcome to reality. The population is continuing to explode, schools grow, kids have sex, and the biggest problem facing this country is everyone blaming the government for their problems.

You want to fix the schools? Give them far-reaching power to drag kids into class, kicking and screaming if needed. And probably more importantly, let them punish the parents, the real source of the problem, who do nothing to keep their kids in school and performing well because either they’re too busy or they just don’t care. To them school is nothing more than a babysitting service, if they even care to notice. Let schools call parents at work and threaten to garnish wages if the parent doesn’ t get their kid to school (with the power to act). Solve to problems at once, get the kids into class, and maybe add a few bucks to the coffers.

America has no kids in school that is obvious and probably did not grow up in the state. I did. I had p.e., music, art, science,media once a week in elementary, I had lots of elective choices in middle and high and our classes were under 25. Next year elementary school children will not have media teachers, art or music. schools will ignore the class size amendment and there will be up to 27 in elementary classes, over 30 in middle and over 35 in high school. Given parents are asked to supply everything from copy paper to toilet paper while custodial and clerical staffs have been slashed. I spend several hours a week answering phones because there are not enough staff to do that and I have even entered attendance. There is nothing left to slash and our kids education is suffering. 90% of Florida’s children attend public schools…we want “fully funded public schools” as mandated in our STATE CONSTITUTION. AMerica…move back to your home state.

Well put Mike Thomas!! I couldn’t agree more with this article! Scott is a self-promotional clown who has no idea what he is doing. This is evident in nearly everything he touches. And more and more people (with thinking minds) are realizing it.
Mr. “America” you are quite delusional and you ARE the minority of Florida. You are one of the few that feed on his lies. I imagine you have NO children, so the issues is of little importance to you aside from a forum for you to try to infect the thinking population with your spin.

(note from Mike — he’s talking about America, not me)
You are so far off base it is not even funny. Making good educational institutions means hiring the best teachers and yes, they want to be paid fairly (as they should). In this state, we have abstinence based sex ed. That means no mention of condom other than how to properly use one and absolutely no one in schools is counseling about abortions. Where did you get that from? You might want to educate yourself a little bit. It is apparent you are a very religious person and that is fine, but perhaps you can learn to separate your religious belief from government and school affairs.

Also, if he was elected to create jobs- where are they? How many people will want to come to work or bring jobs to a state where the education system stinks & the kids have no after school activities or arts/PE/music/sports? Not to mention all of the other things he’s done, such as our the new bill he signed that allows up to 40% increases on current homeowners insurance. He is a liar, a crook, an elitist and he is the worst thing that has ever happened to our state.

I keep trying to tell Mike Thomas that the libertarian/TP ideologue’s idea of reform and his idea of reform are two different things.
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The reformers in Washington send their children to private boarding schools, the TP’ers home school and all of them despise public education. How do you kill public education, first you disparage it, then you starve it, then you get rid of talented people and then it just folds up. It becomes a self-proving hypothesis.
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Eventually, probably when it is too late, he will believe me.

I feel very betrayed by Governor Scott. Despite my misgivings about his character, I voted for Scott because I am a strong advocate of the Jeb Bush reforms in Florida’s educational system. Scott’s statements during campaign season indicated that he supported many of the key portions of Jeb’s successful plan. I swallowed my concerns and voted for him purely on the basis of his education platform versus Alex Sink’s pandering to the teacher unions. ( As a former teacher, I was always one of a very small minority who refused to join the union because I did not feel that the union stood for an improved educational system.)
I fully support the testing of a student’s success in meeting minimal educational standards and I am amazed at the progress made in low performing schools in attaining increasingly higher standards. I believe that good teachers make or break the probability of success for students and was appalled at the number of poor teachers purely “existing’ in poorer schools with any accountability. I truly believe that teachers should have at least a portion of their pay based on their success in the classroom just as workers in the private sector do. I am so disappointed in Scott’s stance on education.

La La land is believing that every last cent of the $20 billion the State of Florida spends on education, goes to educating children. La La land is believing that no schools ever mention condoms or abortion in any class or by any school counselor. La La land is believing that Eric Smith is some kind of messiah figure, without who’s omnipotence children will be left unable to read, write, or count to 10. La la land is believing that every teacher, every school employee, every contractor and consultant getting money from the school system is essential to children learning anything. La la land is believing that no liberal interests have infested any schools, that no liberals see the $20 billion state education budget as free money for them and their “administrator” cronies as long as they can convince the gullible that the money is being used “for the kids.” And La la land is a columnist who doesn’t even know how to make his own yard maintenance free, yet claims to be an expert on education leadership.

Yes, keep up the GREAT work Governor Scott! Let’s take money from education and giving it to multi-billion dollar corporations so that they hire 10 more part timers here and 1000 more in India. Let’s give out vouchers so that those of us in the middle class can use them to pay for our kids to go to private schools that are an hour away from our homes and cost double what the cost of local public schools cost. Better yet, let’s just teach them on the internet so that they never have the benefit of interacting with other kids or adults, making them socially backwards.

America, you are living in the dark ages and it is time to come out and see the light. Education costs money-money for books, buses, maintenance, teachers, etc. Florida ranks almost last in what it spends on it’s kids and it shows in our crime rate and the number of people unemployed and underemployed and on welfare. It will only cost us more in the long run if we do not spend the money that is needed to give our children the education so that they can get a decent job or go to college. Our educations were paid for by prior generations and we owe it to future generations to continue that. It seems like “conservatives” have forgotten that and only want what is best for them and their wallets and it is getting tiring.

@swmrgrl – You lost me when you said you were a “small minority” who didn’t join the union. Right now in Orange County only 50% of teachers are in the union. It’s pretty much the same in every other county. Ergo, you are full of it and you don’t know what you’re talking about. By the way, why don’t you rejoin your teaching colleagues and show them how it’s done. Go to Jones, Evans or Oak Ridge and have your pay based on how those kids “perform.”

Wow- just when you think our clown in command could not sink any lower,……he come out with this half @$$ apology. I learned at an early age that if you were wrong, own up to it and give a sincere apology. Now go back and read this horsecrap.
He takes the blame even though he had no knowledge of it? Kind of like how he had to apologize for giving false information about the Sun High Speed rail, which lead to other states getting our share of the pie? Remember when this clown took credit for saving the federal budget by NOT accepting the money that would have created over 40,000 jobs?…..Kind of like when he made billions from bilking the U.S. AND Medicare and he had no knowledge of that? It would almost be funny if this A$$ Clown was not ruining our stats AND economy in one fell swoop.

It must be nice not knowing anything about what is actually going on in the schools, America. Then you can just fill-in-the-blanks with whatever makes you feel good. Positions were cut all across the board. We have parents who scream at the one ESE assistant (this position includes managing all special services to students from mentally disabled to gifted) left to serve our school- and that assistant is being cut next year for lack of funding. Some parents scream at this ese assistant that she has ruined their child’s life by not promptly collected all data and held a conference to address needed services. The screaming parent complains at the district office and her child gets to cut to the head of the line. Then the parent feels all warm and fuzzy about how she fought for her child and told those uncaring bureaucrats off. Actually she just hurt five other children who had waited longer for services. BUT GUESS WHAT? When you cut the positions of those who manage ESE services there are just not enough time slots for conferences or personnel to assist with the mountains of RTI paperwork. Screaming at an underpaid assistant who works unpaid overttime each day doessn’t help! Next year, the teachers will hold the conferences, and they are already having trouble accumulating all the required RTI data to bring to the conference on top of all their other added duties. AND this is just one tiny peak at the iceberg. I could provide many examples of how cutting education funding hurts children, but people like you America do not want to know the truth.

Carrie, thank you. I want to know the truth. And I empathize with your story. At the same time, I believe strongly that we are blessed to have a as governor, a man who is not a politician, but a businessman. That perspective is desperately needed. Last week the governor signed TWENTY BILLION DOLLAR spending bill for education. With that kind of money, there is not reason why ANY student should go without. Do you know how much TWENTY BILLION DOLLARS is? And do you realize that it is an ANNUAL budget? That means over five years, Florida taxpayers have spent ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS on education. Every taxpayer in Florida should be OUTRAGED at the treatment of the assistant you mentioned and at the treatment of the students who had to wait. If the existing bureaucracy is incapable of stopping such things from happening when taxpayers give them TWENTY BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR to do so, they are incapable of running the school system and should be fired and replaced with people who put kids first. Unlike the columnist, I don’t claim to be an education leadership expert. Common sense tells me though that the solution to the specific problem mentioned is to enable the assistant to hang up on any abusive parent and eliminate the paperwork so that all are treated fairly and without costly red tape. I cannot solve the problem because I am just a taxpayer, but if you tell Governor Scott about it, I am sure he would be outraged too and would kick you know what and take names so that the kids can learn and that the State employee is treated respectfully.

Great ethics, Vey9. You didn’t join the union so you rode for free when the union negotiated pay and benefits for teachers’ contracts each year. I’m sure you suffered bravely through every improved workplace condition or salary increase that was forced upon you while those selfish union members- your co-workers- paid your way.

America – $100 billions sounds like a lot of money until you realize it comes down to approximately $6000/student. Guess what? Jeb Bush sent his kids to a ritzy private school that costs about $20,000/student (if not more). And on their glossy brochures it says they have small student-teacher ratios. I want the same for my kids. I want my kids to have small classes with good teachers. It’s time we actually paid for that! Dean Cannon sends his kids to a private school in the Winter Park area (I won’t say where) but it costs over $10,000/year. Some schools are up to nearly $30,000/year. Yet you crow about us spending $6,000? The state passed an unfunded merit pay mandate. The mandate covers neither merit pay money or the stupid tests which must be made (and that costs $$$) to create a merit pay system. The Rick Scott Republicans will pay for this. Remember – 29%.

Rick Scott does not care about education or the children of Florida. He only cares about himself and the headlines he makes, good or bad. This is a man that is self-obsessed with his own image and not the good of the state. There is much more damage to come as he and the republican legislature roll back decades of reforms and undercut programs designed to preserve the social fabric of society.

People….we voted this guy in (I didn’t vote for him). Those that voted for him felt he had the answer…because everything else didn’t work (so we’re told).

Now, folks are complaining that he isn’t delivering on his jobs / etc theme. What did you expect from a CORRUPT CEO???? Good God folks! Are you all that dumb that voted for him? He was corrupt PRIOR to becoming governor…what did you expect?

Florida is DESERVING everything it gets. Scott is laughing all the way to the bank (he WILL make back his 70 Million investment – one way or another..in wheels / deals / future contracts in his private life) and we will be left holding the back.

Scott isn’t the one with the problem. Those that voted for him ARE the problem! He is laughing all the way to the bank. And regardless of his 29% polling numbers…he is still Governor Rick Scott / Florida. (I’d be laughing if I were him.)

@ Carrie
“Great ethics, Vey9″
I think you mean to yell at floridian not me. I had to google ese and when I was in school, clerks at the convenience store made more than teachers did. Needless to say, encouraging kids to finish high school was a tough sell.